Sunday, August 30, 2009

A long and rambling post because I'm wiped out

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


Our belly dance troupe was invited to participate in a festival in Green Bay this weekend. Not on one of the stages for a half hour or hour spot, but to have our own booth, like we do twice a month at the farmers' market, and perform both days there. They wanted us enough to wave the booth fee AND their usual 20% commission on any belly dance gear (scarves, veils, zills, that kind of thing) we might want to sell, so we figured why not.

It ran from 10-6 yesterday and 10-5 today.

I am so stiff! Already! 15 hours of belly dance in two days is crazy! Sure, I wasn't dancing the whole entire every minute of time, but there were only 3 of us on Saturday and 4 on Sunday to share the time, and when you figure we do a fair amount of songs together, that's a LOT!

All in all, it was fun. They gave us a booth right at the join of two streets, near an edge of the festival at the top of a T, so that the street coming in faced us. It was a great location; our tent looked fabulous; and we worked hard.

Saturday it also never hit 60F and poured rain the second half of the day. Like, as in, the front third of the rug we dance on, even raised up above the ground on plastic flooring, squished when we stepped on it, and water squoozed up between our toes. I forgot that at the end of the day when I was doing my sword solo, and rolled over right into it doing floorwork! COLD! WET!!! At least my harem pants were black and it didn't show!

So yeah, that part wasn't great, and there weren't many people there at all that day, but we stuck it out anyway. ('Cuz we're tough, dang it! :) )

Also not great - we'd been asked to do a 3 minute morning spot on live local TV... at 6:05 am today. (Not that that's bad - that's very exciting!) And to be there at least 20 minutes prior. So I got up at 4am, out the door on time, and walked up to the stage at 5:30 am on the dot.

To find nobody there. No camera crew, no on-air personalities, no NOBODY! No big lights set up, no cameras (rolling or not), no NOTHING! I was just pulling out my phone to call our troupe leader/instructor when it rang anyway - it was her. Turned out there was some big labor dispute with a local BIG business with sudden stuff happening overnight that they'd decided to cover live instead. They'd called her at like 2 am, but her phone was in the car (so she wouldn't forget it) and so she hadn't gotten the message until she was heading in.

So, back in the car, 45 minute drive home, and hop back into bed to snooze for just a tad longer. It would've been fun to do the TV bit, but such is life.

Today's weather more than made up for Saturday's. Cool for most of the day, but reasonable, sunny and gorgeous. We'd much rather have it cool than hot, because once we get dancing, we heat up right quick! It was HOT though, for about an hour when the sun shone straight into our tent and heated up the rug (dried, thanks to our instructor taking it to the laundromat & using an industrial dryer!) so that it was almost too hot to dance on! Mr. Kluges brought the girls, so they got to see the festival, and Mommy dancing, and I took a break and ate lunch with them. A good day.

But, MAN, am I stiff now! Too much floor work, and leaning back using the muscles in the front of my thighs. I got out of the car after the 45 minute drive home and almost couldn't walk I was so frozen up! I walk like I'm 50 years older than I am and I take each stair down with both feet like a toddler! So, a little tylenol, a glass of wine, and a hot bath are in order for tonight... if I can stay awake that long!

Here's hoping that helps and I can stand up out of bed tomorrow! ;)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Friday, August 21, 2009

My calendar, in picture format...

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Wednesday
aka
"It's food poisoning, the flu, or a 24-hour curse."


Thursday
aka
"No work was done on the house yesterday thanks to my wife's sickness, but by gosh some will be done today! I don't care HOW much it rains!"


Friday
aka
"Check out my nifty paint-tray-holding contraption! Now I don't have to climb all the way down to the ground every time!"


Saturday
aka
"Oh, my goodness, I've got so much to do before 1:30 pm when all the little girls arrive!"

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

WW - Saturday Breakfast

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

WW - Umbrilibos?

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Open Letters, yet again

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Dear Summer,
I like you. I really do. You've been temperate, not too warm for our no A/C house during the days, cooler at night. I'd had some complaints about the drought, but, hey, it kept me from having to mow very often, so it wasn't all bad. Glad to have the rain recently though! So, you know, let's keep this up for a while!
Love,
Me


Dear Guest Room,
As the last room in the house that hasn't been painted (other than the sunroom, but that's only narrow bits around the windows/ceiling), I'm sure you've felt a bit neglected. Well, you were/are in some pretty rough shape. Rough enough that we're not going to get away with just slapping a new coat of paint over top and calling it good. Plus, you know, most off our painting was done by/with the grandparents here... of course, using the guest room.

No, you're going to get the whole 9 yards - peeling off the old latex paint on top, washing (or coating with flour/water paste, scraping, THEN washing) off the ancient chalky mess of calcimine paint underneath, exposing those (in your case rather damaged) bare plaster walls, having Mr. Kluges continue to develop his plasterworking skills, paining you up with masonry primer & then FINALLY paint on some yet-to-be-determined color.

Whew. Just typing that was time-consuming.

Since summer has decided to hit a hot and humid phase, Mr. Kluges suggested we take advantage of that and really move on peeling/pulling the paint. When we tried taking that layer of paint off this past winter, it clung kicking and screaming to the walls. Now, however, we can get our fingernails under a bit and just gently pull off pieces the size of hand towels. In fact, see here...

So, I hope you're enjoying the extra attention, Guest Room, since now that we've begun, we might as well keep trucking along...

Love,
One of the Owners


Dear AKJ & The Dude,
Since washing the calcimine paint off the walls takes SIGNIFICANTLY longer than peeling the latex off in the hot humidity, expect to enjoy the hospitality of the Master Bedroom rather than the "the yellow chalky crap sticks to your shirt if you brush against the wall" state of the Guest Bedroom when you come for your much-anticipated visit!
Love,
Your Excited, if Chalky, Hosts To Be


Dear Pumpkin,
You are seriously amazing me with the LEAPS and BOUNDS with which your reading has taken off this summer. Holy crap, kid, did you not read "Please come downstairs to the gum for paperwork and pictures day" on the school door today?! Ok, so I helped you go back and reread "gum" as the correct word, "gym," but dang! You're not even 5 yet!
Love,
Your proud mummy and fellow pre-kindergarten reader


Dear Penguin,
You crack me up when you reply to my questions with, "No, honey," all the time lately. Seriously, even if you're being a little naughty, it's hard for me to be firm (though I manage it), when the words of a 1950s, down South, diner waitress regretfully informing a patron that there's no pecan pie just came out of your mouth.
Love,
"Honey"

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

WW - 12 rows x 200 ft = LOTS of tomatoes at our CSA!

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com



(Well, minus one, I guess.)

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

5am Thoughts

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

  • Bats make a very distinctive noise flying around inside. After it's happened once, you'll know it and recognize it quickly. In fact, I found it distinctive enough that as I woke through the various layers & levels of sleep at almost-5-am, I knew absolutely there was one in our bedroom.
  • You know you're a parent when you close the door to the bedroom to keep the bat INSIDE the room with you and away from the rest of the house and its sleeping citizens.
  • It's very, very, very hard to fall back asleep with a bat zooming around your ceiling, all the while hoping he/she/it finds one of the two open windows in the (very small) room. It's almost as hard to fall back asleep once you're pretty sure it's gone, but only 95% sure.